Released
by Casey Garmeau
Summary: After receiving the title of Thane of Whiterun, Ludwig thinks there must have been a mistake. There's no way that someone like Feliciano could be a housecarl, and especially not the one assigned to aid him. Oneshot, human names used.


_A/N: _

_Just a short thing that I thought of after playing Elder Scrolls V for four hours straight. Written in one sitting, not an awful lot of editing, so please don't expect much. I just wanted to get it in writing. Also, sorry if this is similar to something that already exists. I haven't read any Skyrim/Axis Powers Hetalia crossovers. _

_Takes place at the beginning of the main quest directly after player receives title of Thane of Whiterun. _

* * *

><p>Ludwig furrowed his brow as he looked down at the axe he had acquired not an hour before. The innkeeper hadn't asked any questions when he'd requested a room at the Bannered Mare; apparently, word had not yet gotten out. There would surely have been inquiries and strange looks at least if anyone had heard about what had happened at the Western Watchtower that afternoon. It would be wise to keep his new status as Thane of Whiterun a secret for the time being as well.<p>

Thane. He hardly felt deserving of such an honorable title. Everything since his own near-execution at Helgen felt as if it had happened to someone else rather than himself, like he was simply watching from the outside as events unfolded before him.

No, he was hardly worthy of the title of Thane.

He leaned back on the bed of his rented room and laced his fingers over his chest. He was exhausted after his second fight against a dragon that week. Surely he could close his eyes for just a few hours and deal with all of this Dragonborn business in the morning…

Ludwig awoke with a start, his hand flying to the handle of the axe beside him. The room was silent and pitch black, lit only by the dim, orange glow of the weapon. The lamp beside the bed had long since burned out and gone cold. Gods, how long had he been resting? He hadn't meant to spend too–

A tiny rattling noise sounded from the door. Metal on metal, the sound that had presumably roused him from his unfulfilling sleep. Someone was trying to break in. Ludwig jumped to his feet, the warm axe hoisted over his shoulder and ready to strike.

The lock clicked. The door creaked open. There, standing in the doorway, was a young man in leather armor, bracers at his wrists and a helmet that looked a few sizes too big for him covering his dark auburn hair. A lockpick was clasped in each of his hands.

The young man smiled when his gaze fell upon Ludwig, a bright smile that lit up his soft features. "Oh, good, it's you!" he said, slipping the lockpicks into a satchel that he carried over his shoulder. "I was afraid that I had the wrong room for a while there. The innkeeper said that you were here, though. Have you spoken yet with the innkeeper, Hulda? She's very pretty, and she gave me a bottle of Nord mead! I thought that you and I might be able to share it tonight to celebrate the honors bestowed upon you this afternoon, my Thane. What do you say?"

The newcomer's ramblings had put him in a sort of daze, but he snapped back to reality at the mention of his unfamiliar title. "Who are you?" he demanded, raising his weapon once more despite the other man hardly seeming like a threat anymore.

"Oh, right!" The man's arms snapped to his sides and he gave a short bow. "My name is Feliciano. I've been assigned as your housecarl." He stopped to give Ludwig a sunny smile. "I was there at Dragonsreach today when you were given the title of Thane by Jarl Balgruuf the Greater. Do you not remember?"

Dragonsreach. Of course, now he remembered. The brunet had been seated at a table beside the fire, swinging his legs beneath the bench and repeatedly spinning a coin across the tabletop. Ludwig recalled feeling a sense of disdain for the man's childish actions in a place as dignified as the Jarl's palace.

But right now, that was the least of his concerns. "Why the hell did you break in?"

"I didn't want to wake you of course." He raised his eyebrows as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

Ludwig shook his head. "And if you came in and I had been asleep? What then?"

His eyebrows knit together as he realized the fault in his thought-process. "I would have… waited?" he said, sounding like a student who was only half-sure of an answer they were presenting before the class. Then, he set his jaw and put his hands on his hips in an attempt at a display of strength. "As your housecarl, I am sworn to protect you, your family, and your possessions to the death. And as long as I am bound to you, I won't be leaving you alone in dangerous places such as this."

Ludwig stopped himself from pointing out that he was perfectly safe at the inn with so many witnesses about. His mind wasn't focusing on that aspect of the man's speech. No, he was more intent on the man himself.

Feliciano looked the very opposite of what he claimed to be. Ludwig couldn't call himself an expert since he was so new to Skyrim, but from what he'd seen, he thought that housecarls were strong, wizened, cautious men and women. This man was young and had a youthful air to him, and then there was the matter of that smile that looked like it belonged on the face of a child who had not yet realized the cruelties of the world. How could this child be a housecarl?

As if reading his mind, Feliciano dug back into his satchel and returned with a slip of paper in his hand. "From the Jarl," he explained.

Ludwig turned over the paper. He broke the seal – it was easily recognizable as that of Jarl Balgruuf the Greater – and looked over the contents of the note.

Sure enough. What Feliciano had claimed was the truth.

Which brought up a new problem.

"I work best alone," Ludwig muttered. He didn't meet Feliciano's gaze as he passed the note back to him.

"Pardon?"

He looked up then to the innocent eyes of the young man before him. "I'm a traveler, Feliciano. A wanderer. All that I want is free rein, and now that I have that, I'm leaving."

"What are we waiting for, then?" Feliciano's eyes were shining again. "The sun will rise in a few hours. We can set off now, if you so wish."

Ludwig put his hands on Feliciano's shoulders. "People like me don't like to be tied down," he clarified, hoping his point was getting across. "I am my best while I am on my own."

Feliciano's smile faltered, "T-That's alright, my Thane," he said, a little more quietly than before. "I'll make sure you aren't bothered as we travel. That's what I'm here for."

Ludwig pursed his lips. He didn't want to watch that hopeful look leave Feliciano's eyes, but he couldn't give in and let himself be tailed around the country either. It had to be said. "I don't need a housecarl."

The bright smile disappeared. "Alright," Feliciano said quietly. "If you won't have me accompany you, I'll stay to guard your assets. Do you have a family?"

He shook his head and lowered his hands, relieved that the young man had brushed off the rejection easily. "No family."

"A house?"  
>"No house."<p>

"Possessions?

"I was imprisoned until last week. All I own is what I can carry along with me."

Silence.

Feliciano gave a little cough, looking away awkwardly. "I've always wanted to travel," he said after a little while. Ludwig looked up to see that a sad smile had crept upon his face. "It was my dream since I was a child. I was born in Solitude, you see. I got into a carriage with a friend one day with the intent of starting my adventure, but I only got as far as Whiterun before I began training with the guards and ended up stuck here." He looked up into Ludwig's eyes then, not quite pleading, but without the innocent light his gaze held earlier. "You're still at the beginning of your journey. This may just be the beginning of mine, too. Please, won't you let me come along?"

His thoughts were clouded with memories. The insatiable thirst for adventure he'd developed as a child. Watching his father and brother leave to fight and never come back. Living on the streets for years, resorting to desperate means to find food and shelter, being arrested and led to die…

And being given a clean slate, released to wander the land like he had always dreamed.

This boy was where he himself had once been. Ludwig saw that same spark of adventure in his eye, and he understood.

"Get some rest," he mumbled, tossing the axe back onto the bed. "We leave at dawn."


End file.
